Uncategorized Archives - Page 62 of 185

UN chief reinforces call for multilateral reform, outlines next steps

·October 4, 2023·1 min read

Other key priorities to emerge were the state of the environment and ensuring responsible use of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Secretary-General António Guterres added. Against this backdrop, the UN’s visionary Our Common Agenda presents proposals and ideas that can bridge the gap, “between the world as it...

World News in Brief: Water ‘being taken for granted’, global teacher crisis, Nipah in India update

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·October 4, 2023·2 min read

“We must stop taking water for granted,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said at the opening of the Rome Water Dialogue, focused on its critical role relating to soils, land, climate change, biodiversity and agriculture. With agriculture accounting for more than 70 per cent of the planet’s freshwater withdrawals, “by increasing...

Global economy a mixed bag, horizon uncertain: UNCTAD

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·October 4, 2023·2 min read

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reported that world economic growth is expected to decelerate from three per cent last year to 2.4 per cent through 2023, with limited signs of a rebound in 2024. These figures underscore the urgent need for reform of the global financial...

Karabakh: Humanitarians respond to growing health needs

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·October 4, 2023·2 min read

Concerns also remain for those unable to leave the Karabakh Region town of Khankendi – known as Stepanakert among Armenians – which the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said was close to empty. Its priority remains finding those too vulnerable to help themselves. Deserted city “The city is...

Women and girls continue to be killed, based on gender alone

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·October 3, 2023·2 min read

“Women and girls continue to be killed on the basis of their sex and gender, rendered more vulnerable to femicide when being women and girls intersect with other grounds or identities,” said Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on the issue – whose brief includes examining the causes and consequences of...

Looming hunger emergency for South Sudanese families fleeing war

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·October 3, 2023·1 min read

Nearly 300,000 people have arrived in South Sudan since the conflict began across the border in mid-April, most of whom are returnees.  Among them, one in five children is malnourished and 90 per cent of families are experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity. Screening data from the border crossing also revealed...

Arbitrary detention still widespread in Mexico, rights expert warns

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·October 3, 2023·2 min read

In a statement concluding a 12-day visit there, the UN expert group said that reforms including the transition to an accusatory criminal procedure, adherence to international human rights laws and introduction of a National Registry of Detentions, and an increasingly human-rights centred legal system are significant achievements. ‘Catalyst for ill-treatment’...

We’re better off thanks to migrants, says new IOM chief

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·October 3, 2023·2 min read

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on her first official day as head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope said that migrants were “people first” who should not be seen as a problem. That distinction was more critical than ever today, the IOM Director-General added, noting that it...

INTERVIEW: How new mission could support gang-ravaged Haiti

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·October 2, 2023·8 min read

This week, the Security Council will consider a draft resolution on a new non-UN multinational mission under the UN Charter’s Chapter VII provision allowing the use of force. “This is not a typical or old kind of peacekeeping mission,” Ambassador Robert Rae of Canada, Chair of the Economic and Social Council...

World Habitat Day focuses on cities as drivers of growth

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·October 2, 2023·2 min read

Global economic growth is declining to about 2.5 per cent this year, the UN said. Apart from the initial COVID-19 crisis three years ago, and the global financial crisis in 2009, this represents the weakest level since 2001. Given the size of the contribution of cities to national economies, the...

Mediterranean ‘becoming a cemetery for children and their futures’

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·October 2, 2023·2 min read

More than 11,600 unaccompanied children have crossed the Central Mediterranean to Italy so far this year the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, an increase of 60 per cent compared with last year. The number of arrivals peaked this month on the small island of Lampedusa off Italy’s southern...

Tackling fake news in Kenya: A UN Resident Coordinator blog

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·October 2, 2023·4 min read

Stephen Jackson, the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, reflects on the 2022 elections, which saw an effective partnership with the Government and private-sector rise to the occasion to take down fake news. “No one is born with hate. Hate is taught, and then hate spreads. Over recent years, social media...